


Haunted No More

by Steph_Rob94



Series: Milk [3]
Category: Durarara!!
Genre: F/M, Mentions of past child abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-08
Updated: 2013-12-08
Packaged: 2018-01-04 01:09:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1075278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Steph_Rob94/pseuds/Steph_Rob94
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every year on this day, Anri Sonohara relives some of the worst moments of her life. Every year on this day, she relived them alone. That was until this year. This year Shizuo Heiwajima is with her as she confronts her demons once again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Haunted No More

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: This amazing manga/series does not belong to me. It belongs to Ryohgo Narita.

Anri stared down into the coffee cup in front of her. The heavily creamer filled coffee reminded her of Shizuo’s eyes. The thought of the man calmed her down slightly, but she knew that it would not last. Today was the anniversary of her parents’ death. Tonight at nine would mark the eleventh anniversary of the day her mother had finally had enough, of the day her father had finally gone too far. Her hand drifted up to touch the skin of her throat.

_Darkness clouded her vision as her father’s hands tightened even more around her throat. Through the darkness, she saw the flash of metal. She felt the warm splash of blood and the impact of meeting the floor. As her vision cleared, Anri saw her mother run the long blade across her own throat._

As she came down from the memory, she could feel Saika-the only thing her mother had left her-pressing against her skin. She knew that her eyes had taken on that eerie red glow. That she held Saika was her most guarded secret. The guilt of keeping it threatened to overwhelm her on this day. She kept telling herself that it was better her than someone with weak will.

A soft knock disturbed the quiet of her apartment. Anri jumped, but stood slowly from her chair. She opened the door to see Shizuo standing there. A small smile was on his lips. Anri didn’t have it in herself to return it. She simply stepped aside and let him in. Again, she kicked herself for saying yes, but he did nothing she expected him too. He didn’t ask her if she was alright; he didn’t ask why this day was so hard for her. He simply stood awkwardly in her kitchen looking around her apartment.

It wasn’t much, but she was proud of it all the same. It was equipped with a full kitchen, a living room complete with a black couch and a quality television, a large bathroom that had a shower and a tub, and a large bedroom.

“Want to watch a movie?” Anri suggested. It was her habit on this day. She would open up a carton of her favorite ice cream and eat it in front of the television. She would follow it with hot chocolate that was made with milk instead of water.

“Sure,” Shizuo told her. In all honesty when he had asked, he wasn’t expecting her to say yes. This day was hers and he realized that in a way he was intruding on her, but the puffiness underneath her eyes told him what she would have been doing if he hadn’t come. He hated the thought of her crying. He was distracted by a thud. Anri had taken a tub of ice cream from her freezer. Shizuo’s eyes locked on the cookies and cream on the front. 

“Want some?” She asked upon seeing his eyes on her. He nodded.

“Need any help?” He asked. Anri shook her head. She motioned toward the television with a spoon.

“Pick out a movie,” she demanded. Shizuo nodded and walked to survey her DVDs. He smiled slightly at the selection in front of him. He was pleased to see that Anri was not like most of the female population: obsessed with his younger brother. He wanted to avoid anything violent, but he also wanted to avoid anything overly romantic. Thankfully, Anri didn’t have much of both. He laughed when he saw a movie from his childhood: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He looked over his shoulder at her. Amusement danced in his eyes. He picked it from the rack.

“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?” He asked teasingly. Anri blushed slightly. It was as he was turning around that he realized what she was wearing. A blue silk night dress clung to her form. The slightly baggy apron that she had tied around her waist every day at work covered her well, he realized. He would have had no idea that Anri Sonohara hid those curves if it hadn’t been for tonight. He blushed and looked away from her.

“Yeah,” Anri mumbled, “it was a good escape.” She told him as she extended the bowl of ice cream to him. He took it from her. She pulled the DVD from his hand and set her own bowl on the end table. “I haven’t watched it since I was eleven though. I don’t suppose I had the heart to throw it away,” Anri told him as she put it in the DVD holder. Shizuo hummed quietly as he took a bite of his ice cream. The expression on his face was so adorable that Anri smiled. She sat down beside him and took her own bowl into her lap. She would have never thought Shizuo would have a sweet tooth. They ate the ice cream in silence. Anri found she had difficulty watching the movie.

_Anri could hear the shouts and screams coming from the living room. They overpowered the song the little orange people sang. Anri buried her head into her arms as she heard the sound of flesh hitting flesh. Her mother’s small shout of pain followed. Anri couldn’t sit there anymore._

_“Daddy, stop it!” Anri hollered at her dad. The large man froze. His fist was inches from her mother’s face. Anri could feel the tears welling up in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. It would only anger him more._

_“Anri,” her mother breathed in horror. Her light brown eyes begged her daughter to run. Anri glanced at her mother. Her lip was split open and the side of her cheek was turning a deep red. Anri would not run and leave her mother to her father’s abuse. If he was going to hurt her mommy, he would have to do so in front of her. Her father’s grip on her mother’s collar lessened. Her mother crumpled to the floor. Her father took a step toward her._

_“What did you say to me, girl?” Her father demanded to know. Anri retreated back into the room that she had created in her mind. She could still see her father coming closer to her, but she had detached herself from the moment. He wrapped his large hands around her throat as her mother struggled to get to her feet._

“Anri?” Shizuo called her name. What was left of the ice cream had melted into a puddle in the bottom of the bowl. Her eyes were fixed on the television, but he had a feeling that she wasn’t seeing it. Fear and anger swirled in her glowing red eyes. He would worry about that later. Right now, his attention was focused solely on bringing this woman out of the memories that tortured her. “Anri?” he called again softly. She blinked. Slight clarity filled her vision. The red of her eyes faded away. “Hey,” Shizuo spoke as fully clarity entered her eyes. Horror filled them in that next moment.

“You saw, didn’t you?” She whispered. Her small hands curled tightly around the bowl in her hand. He nodded. Slowly, he took the bowl from her hands and put it on top of his empty one. Anri’s hands fell lifelessly to her lap. She stared at him, expecting him to run as fast as he could for the door, but he didn’t. He turned back to her. His coffee brown eyes were soft.

“What you are,” a small blush spread across his cheeks, “doesn’t matter to me. You are still my friend.” Shizuo forced himself to continue to meet Anri’s eyes despite the embarrassment that was filling him. “Nothing will change that,” he muttered. Shizuo had told Celty about the same thing, but with Anri it felt different somehow. His eyes widened slightly at the breathtaking smile that spread over her lips.

“Thank you,” she told him. Her smile faltered slightly. As she thought of what she was about to tell him. “My mother and I lived with a very abusive father,” Shizuo tensed at what she was telling him.

“You don’t have-” Anri looked over at him.

“I want too,” she told him. She continued her explanation up to the end. “My mother,” she swallowed, “killed my father and then took her own life.” Anri looked down. “The sword that she took her life with is the only thing she ever left me.” Anri swallowed and pulled the sword from her body. Shizuo’s eyes widened. Her eyes were red again. “It is called Saika. It is basically a parasite that feeds off the emotions of its host…”

“Does it hurt you?” Shizuo asked, eyeing the long blade. Anri shook her head.

“It’s oddly enough beneficial. The sword lets me know when I’m in danger and I let use it to protect me. Saika then feeds off of the emotions of the people I cut to protect myself. In those moments that their eyes glow red, they are under my control.” He nodded. “I only cut people that have intent to harm me,” she pushed home.

“I hadn’t thought that you would hurt someone that did nothing to you,” Shizuo told her. Anri smiled at him again.

“How are you able to just shrug this off?” Anri asked him. Shizuo looked over at her.

“My best friend is a Dullahan that is missing her head. I am a man with freakish strength. You pulling a sword out of your arm and telling me that you can control people is just about normal for me.” Anri giggled. Shizuo grinned. The credits of the movie played on the television.

“Want some hot chocolate?” Anri asked.

“Sure,” Shizuo agreed.

The rest of the night was spent talking about everything they could think of and laughing. It wasn’t until Anri began to nod off on his shoulder that he looked over at a clock. It was two a.m. He scooped the woman into his arms and took her into her bedroom. He held her up with one hand and pulled back the sheets of her bed with the other. He set her down.

“Thank you, Shizuo…” Anri whispered as he covered her. He blushed in the darkness, but smiled. He patted her on the head.

“Welcome…” Shizuo grumbled as he straightened. He was reluctant to leave the beautiful woman, but knew that it was necessary. He picked up all of the dishes that they had used and set them in her sink. He turned off her television and walked out of her front door. As he left, he clicked the lock on the handle in place. He shut the door behind him and jiggled the lock just to make certain. Shizuo then walked back toward his home.

For the first time in eleven years, Anri was not plagued by nightmares of the night her parents died.  


End file.
